"Charge-off"

[frobscottle]

I've gotten phone messages from my creditors saying the debt is being sent (or "going to" or something) to charge-off and this will be on my record for 7 years. What are they talking about?

What is "charge-off" and if I'm going to file Ch 7 do I need to care about this? Sounds like they're giving up (wishful thinking).

Is the debt being written off so that I wouldn't even need to file? More wishful thinking...but it would sure be nice.

Has anybody had this happen?

[HHM]

Charge off simply means the original creditor is writing off the debt as a loss for accounting and tax purposes (which they are required to do 180 days after initial default). Charge-off has NO bearing on the collectibility of the debt; the debt remains fully collectible and will likely be assigned to an outside collection agency or sold to a junk debt buyer.

A charge off is reported on your credit report and is a very negative entry.

If you are going to file BK, it really does not matter.

[sunshine mary]

I don't think you have to worry about it especially if your filing and really even if you weren't filing and didn't have the money it would be inevitable anyway... I got letters from bank of America every month telling me they were going to charge the accounts off but they never did...At the end of the hell I was living in I wanted them to to write them off and leave me the hell alone !! We filed last month and I'm not sure if those were written off before or not but I really don't think they wrote them off they just wrote letters saying they were going to. Maybe the only bad thing would be that showing up on your credit report as a charge off ????????? I don't know but I'm sure someone here does.

[mikep]

Not to hijack this thread,but i looked at my credit reports and all of my accounts were included in bk.All of my 7 accounts were charged off , but not sold.Will this have a major impact on my fico score?

[frobscottle]

Thanks all,

HHM,

If the debt is sold to a junk debt buyer, and I do not know who they are and they are not therefore included as creditors in my filing, what happens then? Is the debt still discharged, or is this how "zombie" debt problems have their origin?

I don't want to be playing games with some outfit 10 years from now because of some technicality.

[keepmine]

List the orginal creditor and anyone you know of who has touched the debt.
If you didn't know the debt was sold at the time you filed, you are protected if you listed the OC.

[jp2861]

Not to hijack this thread,but i looked at my credit reports and all of my accounts were included in bk.All of my 7 accounts were charged off , but not sold.Will this have a major impact on my fico score?

Yes. I had one that was IIB and charge off. I disputed something, I think they still had a balance owed. Anyway TU ended up taking it totally off my report and my score went up 26 points. So, it seems your score takes a hit from the BK entry and also the charge offs. Since then I've been disputing every little thing I can.

[Flamingo]

Yes. I had one that was IIB and charge off. I disputed something, I think they still had a balance owed. Anyway TU ended up taking it totally off my report and my score went up 26 points. So, it seems your score takes a hit from the BK entry and also the charge offs. Since then I've been disputing every little thing I can.

One thing, if the charge off or late payments occurred before your filing date, they will not remove that information.